One of Mr Knowles’s recent guests, Courtney-Marie Martin, writing in the Internet-based fishing blog, skinnywaterculture.com, said of her Long Island experience: “I witnessed first-hand one of the major conservation issues currently going on in the area, with gill netters present not far from the flat we just fished.

#“My heart broke. If we don’t preserve what little we have left, this will all be gone, and there will be no future generation to follow in our footsteps. This is apparently an on-going, don’t ask don’t tell, problem on the island. With a heavy heart, and the thought of bonefish being gill netted, along with other innocents by catch, we headed in.”

If that’s not enough, there are some who think the decline in bonefish in the Keys may have something to do with commercial netting in Cuba. That’s what this article puts forward.

We do not know the exact correlation between the bonefish in the Keys and the fish in Cuba, but we do know that about fifteen years ago, there was massive netting projects going on in the north part of Cuba, gill nets that stretched miles across the flats and channels. From reports the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust has heard, thousands and thousand of bonefish, along with countless other species were netted and sold at market. At about this same time, the bonefish population suddenly plummeted in the Florida Keys.

And why do I keep bringing stuff like this up?

“We have reached the time in the life of the planet and humanities demands upon it when every fisherman will have to be a river keeper, a steward of marine shallows and a watchman on the high seas. We are beyond having to put back what we have taken out. We must put back more than we take out. We must make holy war on the enemies of aquatic life as we have gillnetters, polluters and drainers of wetlands. Otherwise, as you have already learned, these creatures will continue to disappear at an alarming rate. We will lose as much as we have already lost already and there will be next to nothing, remnant populations, put-and-take, dim bulbs following the tank truck.” –Tom McGuane writing in the Some Remarks section of his outstanding book The Longest Silence.

Today I told the guide I didn’t want to pick up my tarpon rod and I ended up not doing that at all. What was in store was a really fun day of bonefishing with Chris Santella and guide TiTi. We also managed to tangle with a few jacks and cudas.

The bones first. They were larger today than I had expected with the average bumping up toward 4 pounds. On one flat I spotted a dorsal and asked the guide if it was a bonefish. He said “No, shark……………… BONEFISH! BONEFISH! BONEFISH!” Had to be 10 pounds, plus. Didn’t get a cast in to it, but it was very exciting nonetheless.

The guide has two ways of finding bonefish. Looking for them and not looking for them. We went in search of Jacks a few times and almost every time we found bonefish. I didn’t mind at all.

That said… sometimes we weren’t the only ones to find the bones.

One bone got munched in half by a cuda. First time that has happened to me. Odd experience to reel in half a bonefish.

Thanks for the pull. Sorry it didn’t work out.

Those cudas… man… they are devious. Hooked up on a cuda and a second cuda bit the line, freeing his brother. BASTARDS!

All said a good day. Saw some really great and beautiful country today and had a very good time. Pics to follow when the frigging internet is fast enough!

The tarpon was first and that was clearly the pig of the trip. After we finally released that fish we went looking for some bonefish.

We found them.

Really, I think the guides could likely produce bones pretty much all day, but they like chasing the tarpon when they are in, since they don’t stick around all year and the window is about three months long.

The bones weren’t big, maybe 3 pounds, but they fought well and we even had one little cluster Fuque where I got a knot in my running line that went through the guides. Jim worked on getting the knot undone and I hand lined the fish, which meant it had PLENTY of slack. The thing turned around and started swimming leisurely back toward us. The thing came so close to the boat that I just figured I’d wait and pull it’s head out of the water. That’s exactly what happened and we managed to land the bonefish pretty much without the rod.

The next flat we went to was ocean-side and as I got up on deck Jim asked the guide “you ever see any permit here?”

“Sometimes” was the reply, although it should have been “Sure, in about a minute.”

There was Mr. Permit cruising right toward us. No time to switch rods, the bonefish fly would have to do (a Peterson’s Spawning Shrimp). The fish lit up on the fly, started chasing it down doing a little erratic dance behind it. I SWEAR it ate, as did Jim, but I was tight to the fly and there was never any sort of resistance on the line. Just like that it bugged off and I was left, about 2″ from a Cuban Grand Slam.

Kind of cool to come so close. I know it is mostly luck and “right time/right place” that gets you those Grand Slams and I was pretty damn close to getting it right.

I got two saltwater trips in, which for me, being fully employed and having split custody of a 5 year old, is a pretty good trick. Cuba and Belize are kind of choice locations and I feel very fortunate to have been able to visit both in 2012.

It has been a very, very good year. I’m looking forward to what 2013 will bring.

I have one trip lined up already. This is to Grand Bahama for Spring Break. It will be my intro to the Bahamas for my little girl and my new wife. I’m thinking this could be a good thing.

All the best to you in 2013 and thanks for reading and taking part in the blog.

Well… who knew? I was just at Barnes and Noble and saw an issue of The Drake.

I don’t have a subscription and while I have heard really good things about the magazine, I had not ever purchased one. I had decided that this was the time to do so and as I thumbed through the magazine on the way up to the cashier I saw there was a poster insert. I took a peak and recognized, instantly, my own hand. Well… that’s kind of awesome. My tarpon is in The Drake. Jim Klug took the photo, and a damn fine photo it is.

One of the fun things about my last couple trips has been fishing with people really at the start of bonefishing. Back in Andros, it was with Rebecca Garlock and in Cuba it was with Charlie Levine. Now, they were both coming from different places. Rebecca has been fishing the long rod for a while now, but hadn’t really done anything in the salt. Charlie has spent a good number of days in the salt, but mostly in the deep, dark blue stuff with conventional tackle. There were some parallels with the two experiences though. Basically, both were kind of hard on themselves. They felt the pressure to make it all come together. Of course, it all works better when you slow down and, of course, they both got it to happen.

This is me, fishing with Avalon down in Cuba in the Jardines de la Reina. This is back in the mangroves… deep in the mangroves and Matt Hansen was Johnny on the Spot with the video. What you’ll see here is me botch two bonefish in about 4 minutes. It was pretty difficult stuff to fight a fish in, but it was exactly what I wanted to be doing.

Warning… there is some profanity, in case you are worried about your ears bleeding.

I just got this photo from Cuba taken by Matt Hansen. I know exactly what happened here and I think this picture pretty much sums it up.

We were pushing through the back country looking for bones and we had just emerged into a little lagoon. Off to the left flashed an impossibly large bonefish tail. I made the cast right on its nose and it ate almost immediately. It went streaking across the lagoon, pulling off 100 or so feet of line and then it took a slight left detour, brushing up against the clump of mangrove right below where my rod tip is. The fish came off. This fish was my immediate reaction to losing the fish.

It probably would have been my biggest bonefish ever. That tail haunts me.

I had to go home. I didn’t have that much vacation time or idle money and I needed to get back to my girls. However, the trip wasn’t over and the gang that I left added some members and kept going strong.

Here’s one of the folks that joined just as I left. Miles Nolte is a name you might recognize. He’s an author and the new voice of angling at Gray’s Journal.

Nice fish Miles.

I got to talk to Miles a little in the lobby of the hotel before I headed back. He was excited about the week ahead. I can understand why. Wish I had been able to stay and head to the Island of Youth with Avalon, but, life was calling. I feel pretty fortunate to have been there for the week I was. It was a very special trip and one I’ll hold close for a long, long time.

I had something happen in Cuba that I’ve never had happen before. I know it happens and it has happened plenty of times to plenty of people. I had a bonefish bit in half on the line by a barracuda.

I didn’t see the cuda around before I hooked the fish. I didn’t think the bonefish was acting weird or wild before the fish hit. I had the bone on and then, all of a sudden, the cuda was there, chewing on the bonefish. When I pulled in the fish, I was left with the front 1/3 or so of the bonefish.

I got to hold it him my hand and look it in the eye.

It was a weird moment. It underscored that this is a blood sport, even when we don’t intend it to be.